Training Follow-up

As I write this, Steve is having another follow-up session for the church planting training we had a few months ago here in our home. The follow-up sessions have proven to be very helpful for everyone involved; while Steve takes some time to teach, most of the time is devoted to discussing the questions and problems the men are encountering. I went out and shot a short video of Steve answering a question and thought you may enjoy hearing him teach in Tagalog. Thanks for your continued prayers for each of these national church planters as they strive to make Christ known throughout our area.

Accidental Jump

1st a brief typhoon update - thanks 2 all of u who have been praying 4 our safety. We got some heavy rain last night from the storm that had u-turned, but we woke up 2 sunny, clear skies. It looks like all the typhoons have passed by now, and we are looking forward 2 some nice weather - at least 4 a few days! :) Now 4 a little comic relief...

When Mikayla was 1st learning to wakeboard, she accidentally went over 1 of the jumps on the course. At that point in time she could barely stay up on her board, & here she was doing a jump! She actually did it perfectly though and would have pulled it off -- if only she had held on to the rope. But she was understandably a little freaked out and let go. She was not hurt at all, only surprised, after her little misadventure.

Typhoon Update

Well, Typhoon Mina skirted us and headed north. Thanks 4 ur prayers! Here is an update about the typhoon situation here in Bicol Region written by my friend Joanna 4 her blog. Thankfully she doesn't mind me stealing her work, particularly since typing takes so long right now with my right arm in cast. Anyway, thanks 4 your continued prayers!

Well, here's where we stand at the moment. Typhoon Mina has moved off to the north of us - Praise the Lord!- and basically didn't affect us in any way other than some cool, breezy weather. However, there are some other developments that we are watching. Typhoon Lando, which passed over the Philippines last week, has made a U-turn (due to Typhoon Mina) and is headed back across the Philippines! As it moves back across us, it shouldn't be too much of a threat, unless it joins up with the new system that is to the west of us in the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, this is a possibility.
Anyway, as crazy as this all sounds, we are trying to go about normal life and keeping a watch on the internet sites. I've unpacked enough of the school room to start back to school tomorrow, but I'm thinking I may keep all the library books boxed up for a few more days. Now I've just got to decide whether or not to decorate for Christmas yet. The plan was to do that the day after Thanksgiving, but we spent that day "typhoon-proofing" the house {so did we}!
Needless to say, life here is never boring!! Again, we appreciate all your prayers and would ask that you pray off these storms as well. We've got one more month until typhoon season is over. I think we will all rest a bit easier when January rolls around.
Here's a link to an article about the 3 storms that have us surrounded at the moment:http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20071125119

Typhoon Mina

My friend Joanna just wrote up this info 4 her blog about at the typhoon that is on its way here. Also, FYI, we are currently without internet at home. Trying 2 get it fixed but has been slow going, and it will probably b after the typhoon now before it happens. Thanks 4 your prayers and words of encouragement. Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a typhoon approaching our region, the Bicol region. At this point (Thursday evening) the typhoon is a Category 1 and we are under Signal Warning Level 2. It is still out in the Pacific but should be hitting within the next two or three days. As of now, the eye looks as if it will pass north of us {will be closer 2 us since we live north of them}, but we will still get plenty of wind and rain.

The biggest problem is that our area is saturated right now. We have had so much rain as of late, all the rivers are high already. The added rain of this storm could cause some major flooding. Also, there is a serious danger of landslides/mudslides in our area {this is also a concern in Iriga, where we live}. Already, many people in the danger areas have been evacuated.

As far as us, we have had a nice Thanksgiving Day today with our friends, the Hagens. They will be staying with us again tonight and heading home in the morning. We will probably spend most of tomorrow "preparing" for the storm - securing things outside, storing water, moving things to higher ground, etc. We are stocked right now on groceries, but need to make a run to the store for some more candles and mosquito coils. The lines at the grocery store right now are taking over an hour! People around here are pretty nervous, considering what happened this time last year.

If you are reading this, I would just ask that you pray for the people of the Philippines. Please pray for our safety in this storm. Pray that God will use this to bring people to Him and that He will be glorified. We never really know how bad a storm will be until it arrives, so we realize there's a chance we could be without power, water, internet, phone, etc. Of course, we are really hoping that's not the case.

If you'd like to follow the track of the storm, here's the website we are watching. http://www.maybagyo.com/ It is updated 2 or 3 times a day. I will try to keep you updated as I can...assuming we have power!

trip 2 singapore

1 of our friends commentd that we should call this blog the hagen HEALTH update, n that is exactly how we have been feeling as well. things have been crazy of late, but we r hanging in there. we hsven't even blogged about all of it - like the virus ben has had or kayla's ruptured ear drum n mysterious infected insect bights or our positive TB exposure test that will require 9 months of preventative meds... def feeling the need 4 your prayers!
here is a pic from steve n my trip 2 singapore 4 my wrist appt. while we had a good time there (my sis n bro in law n their 2 kids even drove down 2 visit 1 day!), the fun was tempered by the results of my dr appt.

the reason my typing is diff is because i have 2 finger peck w my left hand now. my right arm is immobilized in a plastic cast. it is hot, sticky, n uncomfortable; but i am so thankful that i can remove it occasionally 2 clean under it - particularly considering how hot it where we live. pls pray 4 me as i learn 2 function w only 1 arm. it is incredibly difficult n frustratingly SLOW. simple things like eating, showering, putting in my contacts, n pulling my hair back r now a real challenge or impossible w/o help. sleeping is fitful at best. monday we will try 2 start home school again - honestly no idea how we will pull it off but we will just stick w it. pls pray 4 patience. i have 2 wear this cast 4 6 weeks, then a partial one 4 6 more weeks. pray w us that this allows the torn tendon 2 heal so we can avoid reconstructive surgery. also pray 4 steve as his right hand is still not up 2 full function after his surgery. we make quite the pair right now! :)his should be back 2 normal in a few weeks. in the mean time, pls pray 4 xtra strength and grace 4 each day. we actually r doing quite well n staying encouraged despite it all, but we need ur prayers 2 stay that way! while we would LOVE 2 get a note from u, pls understand in advance that we wont b able 2 keep up w correspondence like we normally do. tnx 4 praying!

Steve's Surgery

Just wanted to let you all know that Steve's hand surgery went well this am. Thanks for praying and encouraging us. The surgeon was able to get the whole cyst even though it was 3x the normal size and went all the way down to the bone, intertwined in some tendons. He will be sore for a while but is recovering well. The kids were able to stay with a friend in Manila for the morning, and that was a HUGE blessing since the hospital ended up not being a good place for kids (dirty hallways, no waiting rooms) so would have been a miserable place for them to hang out for the day. Not to mention Steve was a bit of a challenging patient when he was coming out from under anesthesia (it was tough to convince him to stay in bed and rest since he was intent on getting up and going to get coffee and shrimp - ??? - despite the fact he wasn't "with it" yet and still in a hospital gown!). Anyway, was nice that I didn't have to juggle the kids and him at same time. :)

In other news, Steve's parents left this morning as well. While it was difficult to say goodbye, it was sure wonderful to have them here for such a long visit. Appreciate your prayers for Ben as he has a high fever and is pretty miserable today. Not sure yet what the problem is. Mikayla also has an ear infection that is quite painful. Thankfully, we have several days to rest and recover (interspersed with dr appts) before Steve and I leave for Singapore for my appt for my wrist. Thanks for praying!

On the Road - and a Close Call!

Just wanted to post a quick note to let you all know that we are currently on the road. We have been traveling for a week now and will be heading home on November 15th. Don't know if the bomb at a local mall here in Manila last week made news on your side of the world or not, but we praise God for His protection as our family missed being in that exact spot by less than 15 mins. He used an all-night ER visit the night before as well as being lost in the city at 3am to change our plans for the day; we left the mall just minutes before the bomb went off. Also, we had not driven (because of being lost the night before) so we did not walk through that area to get to the parking lot. Instead we jumped in a cab and left the mall just before it happened. We praise God for His protection of our family. Please join us in praying for the 10 people who died in the blast as well as the 130 who were injured.

We just returned to Manila from a trip up into the tribe where I (Jen) grew up about 20 hours north of our home in Bicol. The next stop is the beach for some vacation time with Steve's parents. Then on Nov 6, Steve will be having outpatient hand surgery. Then on Nov 11, he and I will be going to Singapore to have my wrist looked at by the specialist there to determine the next course of action since I am still in a lot of pain (injured it in March for those of you who don't know). Anyway, we appreciate your prayers as we travel and praise Him with us for His protection last week!

Another wake boarder in the family!

We were just marveling today at how amazing it is that we are living in the middle of nowhere, working with a remote tribal people, and yet we have one of the best cable wake boarding places in the world only 30 mins away. And the cheapest one in the world besides! Isn't God good? We absolutely love to take our family day off there together, and often do it once a week. Steve and the older 2 kids wake board while I exercise then read and Ben plays in the sand and water. Makes for a wonderful family day.

Today was pretty exciting as Zach really got the hang of wake boarding. He has tried quite a bit and had some success last time we came. Today he did amazing though, even making it past several of the corners (the hardest part). We definitely have another wake boarder in the family!

Go, Zach!
Getting ready to take off again - and all smiles.
Here is one very excited 5 year old! :)

Mikayla is doing great as well - she finally made it all the way around the whole course today. She is having a blast with it too - her favorite is when she gets to go doubles with her daddy. I tried to put some videos on, but it was giving me fits so we will have to stick with the old fashioned pictures. :)

The Concrete Boat

By way of introduction, one of the things that we want to do as we church plant amongst the Agta is find ways to improve their standard of living. Currently, many of them spend the entirety of each day in the pursuit of food and water for that day. Because of this, it is difficult for them to take time to attend a Bible study, not to mention the possibility of being trained to go tell others the Good News at some point in the future. So obviously, some livelihood training projects are a necessity as we work with the Agta if we are going to truly equip them to plant churches.

Steve had heard that it was possible to make boats out of concrete - a special mix of concrete and very fine sand called ferro cement. After doing some research (much of it in Tim See's tech tips book - thanks, Tim!), Steve decided to give it a try as a livelihood project in the village of Ipil (located on a small lake). It was cool that his dad was here to help with it.

I am going to try to give you a running account of the process as they did. However, since I was not there for much of it and am not as familiar with the inner workings, don't try to do this yourself off what I say here please! :) (Steve would be glad to walk you through it if you have a need for something like this.)

Before they showed up the 1st day, Steve hired a guy to get the sand. To do this, he had to take his boat out into the lake and dive down to the bottom, bringing up buckets of it at a time. Like I said before, the sand for the cement had to extremely fine. So then whatever he brought up had to be sifted down to the only the finest particles. Here they are sifting it with window screen.

It was very important that the sand be extremely clean so they spent a lot of time cleaning it. You may be wondering who these guys are who are helping. They are not being paid - they were just so excited about the idea that they asked to help so they could learn how. There was usually a dozen guys helping at any given time. Their enthusiasm was amazing. This project has the potential to change their lives drastically. The supply of trees large enough to make wooden boats has dwindled to make them no longer affordable. If they had a boat, their opportunities for work (either fishing in the lake or working on the other side in town) would be endless. So they are pretty excited. After they sifted it and cleaned it, they had to remove the excess water. They did this by piling it up and letting the water run off down the slope.
After they prepared the sand, they began to prepare the other boat they would use as a form for the new one. The chieftain's son volunteered his 30 foot boat to be used as a form. First they covered it with plastic then chicken wire.
Then they started spreading the concrete on. This pic is great because you can see them mixing the concrete off to the left, spreading it on, and you can also see the material they will put over the top to keep the concrete damp so it can cure properly. This gives you a closer-up shot of the layers and the spreading process. It started raining when they were ready to do the 2nd coat of concrete. They wanted to keep the concrete damp, but it couldn't be drenched so they rigged these tarps to keep it dry enough to keep working.
At this point, Steve and his dad took off for the week. After a few days to allow it to harden slightly, the guys in the village submerged the boat to allow it to cure underwater. A few days later, it was time to retrieve the form - the other boat (he understandably was a little anxious to get his boat back!)
They located it underwater and worked to bring it to the surface and bail it out.
Then they worked to separate the 2 boats (if they couldn't, this guy now had a concrete-reinforced wooden boat!) Once they were able to get a crack between the 2, they were able to pour water in between to separate them. Finally the concrete boat separated and sank right to the bottom - which is exactly what you would expect of concrete of course. To be honest, we all spent some anxious moments wondering if this idea would really fly - or in this case float - or not. Steve warned them repeatedly that he had never tried this before, only read about it, so he wasn't sure how it would work. However, with how excited they all were and how much work they had put in, we couldn't bear the thought of it not working.
After they separated the 2 boats, the men raised the concrete one up again and began bailing it out (for no reason other than to see if it floats). Check out their excitement - particularly the 3 guys to the left of Steve - when they saw it floating.

Here are the proud men and their new concrete boat!
Just a little excited...
It is not quite finished (still needs to cure underwater a few more weeks, the sides need to be finished & reinforced, and it lists slightly to 1 side so that needs to be fixed with some more concrete), but the bulk of the work is done now. I am hoping to get a pic of John and Sandi IN the boat before they leave, and I will add that when I get it.


Ok, all you skeptics out there - do you believe us now that we made a boat out of concrete? :)

Projects

Some of you have asked about the projects that Steve's parents have been helping with while they are here so I thought I would share a few pics. They have helped with some basic house maintenance like fixing the roof (my kitchen doesn't flood under 2 inches of water when it rains anymore - now it only forms a small puddle! I guess that is a work in progress...) and doing the mending (THANKS, Mom!). In addition, they have helped with several projects. The first one was a gate to keep the bikes and helmets in (the dogs kept chewing everything up!). They used the readily-available bamboo to build it.

And here is the finished product! Looks great and - better yet - our bikes handle grips, pedals, and helmets will be dogbite-free from now on!
After finishing the gate, Grandpa set into building a promised tree fort for the kids in the back yard. They have been more than a little excited about this for a long time now. :) Best of all, they got to work with Grandpa to make it!

Setting the base...
Playing up in the tree...
(or maybe attaching the supports? you be the judge)
Hard at work...
Almost done!
See Zach hammering next to his Grandpa? Sweet moments...
A group effort...
Even the dogs got in on the action!
And it's done! Check out the cool trapdoor and ladder...

A favorite feature is the opening on one side to climb out onto the branch - and hang upside down like little monkeys. :)

Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma for all your help with these projects!

Actually, the biggest project they have been working on is not included here. I am going to wait til it is done to get a few more pics, but here's a teaser - it is a boat made out of cement! No joke. You will have to check back to see the pics next week.

Training Follow up - and fun times!

On Sept 21, we had a follow up session for the church planting training we did a few weeks back (scroll down to see that post), and we had a good-sized group that turned out for the day. They had a great time discussing how they are applying what they learned as well as hashing through some potential solutions for the difficulties they have faced. It was a sweet time in the Word, and we were encouraged by what God is doing in and through these dear people.

We have also been having a wonderful time with Steve's parents. Here are some pics from our time at the hot springs. It is an awesome place at the foot of a volcano with a cold mountain stream running right next to several warm pools.

We also got to attend a traveling dolphin show in a nearby town with them and our friends the Allens who live a few hours away. We discovered one advantage to standing out in a crowd of Filipinos - our kids got selected as volunteers several times! Mikayla was thrilled, but Ben chickened out before getting "kissed" by the dolphin, and there was no way that Zach was going to get in a boat and be pulled around by dolphins. So Kayla got to do it all! She had an absolute ball with it.

Wake Boarding Fun

We always take Mondays off to spend time as a family after a busy weekend of ministry opps. Today we went up to that cable wake boarding place that we have previously told you about. Here are a few pics of our time together there:

Ben didn't actually wake board in the water, but he sure looked cute standing on it in his new swim trunks from Grandma.

All 3 of the kids had a blast in the pool with Grandpa.
Ben loved the "standing on water" trick.

Mikayla looked too cute with her new wake board. She was SOOOO excited to try it out, and she did GREAT! I am trying to upload some video of her in action - let me know how it works!

Zach also got brave today and tried knee boarding on his own. Here is a video of him going double with his daddy. He had a blast too, and he wants to try wake boarding next time we go.

Hope you enjoyed these pics of our fun day together. Let me know if you were able to watch the videos or not - I may do this a little more with other things too if it works well.